Why does social media have to ruin everything?
Last week, we wrote an editorial about the hazards of going online during a presidential debate. Maybe all of the GIFs pose a potential threat to actually understanding what’s going on; by focusing on the viral capacity of a debate subject, we then start to ignore or forget what we’re actually debating.
It’s like all of us get so swept up into the awesome feeling of making a joke while it’s still relevant that we don’t even care about the actual issues. We could go into all of the issues that got passed over because of their fun catchphrases, but instead we’d like to point out another way that social media has failed us.
By now you’ve heard of the “Frankenstorm” that is Hurricane Sandy plus an Arctic front plus a full moon, all on the week of Halloween.You might have even seen some pretty powerful images of storms floating around the Internet.
Only, they circulate almost every time there’s a major storm threatening anywhere. There are pretty much 11 really popular ones that are making the rounds this time.
Now, don’t let your attention drift away when we start talking about things “going viral” or what “memes” are or who made the “Internet.” What’s important to note here is the fact that we’re all pretty impressionable.
Just because something is on Twitter or shows up on your Facebook feed doesn’t mean that it’s true or relevant.
For example, David Ortiz tweeted a picture of what looked like the Statue of Liberty being engulfed by some major waves. Erin Andrews also posted it to her page. It seems they both believed it was very, very true.
It was a still from the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.”
Andrews seems to be laughing it off, but she’s pretty gullible for being a journalist.
Even on fun websites like Twitter, never believe anything is true unless it comes from a very valid source.
Another image that circulated early this week was a touching photo of soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown. It shows three soldiers braving some rough weather conditions in order to continue their duty to the tomb.
The photo was taken during a storm in September, not during Sandy. A meaningful sentiment, but it didn’t happen during Sandy.
We just want you to be careful. There’s no need to be duped by the Internet unless it’s truly necessary, and that is basically never.
Some of the images you can trust are probably being reported by high-quality news organizations, and they probably don’t look Photoshopped.
We can’t really teach you how to spot a good Photoshop job; it’s something you’re just born with. It has something to do with pixels.
Don’t let the crazy news stories distract or convince you. Just do an extra step of research if you think something is questionable. And if it feels like you’ve seen it before, then you probably did.
